The Secrets of Thornhollow
by XxRoseandIvyxX
Summary: The main character of this story is a girl named Katrina Moon. Along with her best friend Duncan Stormwell, and her twin sisiter Ivy, they begin to discover why they were meant to live at the mysterious Thornhollow mansion, and who they really are. I would rate this T for depressing subjects, blood, and voilence.


Katrina Moon was twelve years old. Way too young to worry the way she does. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. She was stuck in this life, as much as she hated it. Her only friend was a boy named Duncan Stormwell, who had recently moved to West Virginia from Germany. He spoke good English, but he still had a heavy accent. Thank god he was in the same boat she was.

Katrina made her way down the black hallways that were under the old Thornhollow mansion. Her twin, Ivy, was walking next to her. Ivy had jet black hair like their father, but Katrina had dark brown hair like her mother. Surprisingly, Ivy was in a good mood today. Of course the only reason she was happy was because we saw Duncan today. She's liked him ever since he moved here. Ivy always fell for Germans. She said that their eyes were so much brighter than ever average boy's eyes, but of course it was ridiculous. Duncan had the same dull brown eyes as anyone.

We said nothing, coming up the long, fire-lit stair way up to the lobby. It was a very tall mansion, the only place large enough to hold all of us, and it was all underground. The worst cases were at the bottom, and got better each floor up. You hardly saw anyone from the bottom floor, but we always tried to get out of there as soon as we could. And, no, we're not anti-social, just cautious. You never know what they'll do.

My soft black boots made hardly any noise on the velvety olive green carpet that was vacuumed daily at seven o'clock sharp. The maids here were true neat freaks. Everything was in tip-top shape, and they made sure it stayed that way.

We had gone shopping at the mall today for Christmas, but of course there was hardly anyone to shop for. I bought Ivy a matching Hetalia shirt, since she always barrowed mine. And Duncan another work shirt, all of his had holes in them, and a dress shirt for when he goes to Church with us. He said he was going to start going last Sunday, but I wouldn't let him since he had nothing nice to wear. At least he had a decent pair of corduroys that his big brother gave to him. He came over a few days ago so I could hem them. And as for shoes, he'll just have to wear his work boots. I'll clean them before we go.

Finally she opened the door to the lobby, there was two large cherry wood double doors that had beautiful wood trim all around the frame. The lobby inside was quiet, as it usually was before the rush. One of the maids was dusting off the stair rail for the fifth time that day. Ivy closed the doors behind her loudly, which caused the maid to drop her feather duster.

"Good lord, girl." The maid scolded Ivy. "Were you raised with no manners? How many times do I have to tell you kids not to go marching around this place like you're in a parade? "

Ivy picked up the feather duster up and gave it to the maid as she passed her going up the stairs. "Sorry." She said quietly and walked on up. When we turned the corner at the top of the stairs she whispered in Katrina's ear, "I swear the old witch is blind. Lindsey is the one who always slams the doors, not me! And the old woman's blamed me for years! But I do admit I did slam it this time."

There were apartments on either side of the long hall, and we still haven't reached ours yet. I'll have to get ready quick to attend the meeting tonight. I don't know why I'm in such a rush though all I needed to do was change pants and shoes. We reached our apartment number 387 after going up another flight of stairs. I took the key out of my turquoise pants pocket, and unlocked the door. It clicked and I pushed it open. Our room had been cleaned, and it looked neat as always. I hung my gray jacket on the coat rack, and went to my room that was across from the kitchen. Ivy shared the room with me, I don't know why considering there were three other unused rooms in our apartment. At least I had my own closet and bed. I had a simple dark red bed witch was just plain enough for me, but I can't quite say the same for Ivy. She had a zebra striped comforter, with paintball splatter all over it, and a pillow in every single neon color. Take my word for it; she was wild when it came to style. I only had two pillows, one for decoration and one to sleep with.

Katrina flipped the light switch on and set the shopping bags on her bed. She got out the new khaki pants she had bought and smoothed them out on the bed. Ivy flopped down on her massive heap of pillows and let out a sigh. She kicked of her purple moccasins and got out her phone.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Katrina said patiently.

"No. I'll just go like this." She said carelessly texting away one of her friends again. She had a hot pink shirt on that said 'I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas.' All in glittery yellow letters. And she had mint green pants on.

All I had on was my black long sleeved t-shirt with my turquoise pants and black boots. I could have easily gone the way I was, but I wanted to wear my new pants. I went to the bathroom and changed into my new khaki pants. I folded the turquoise ones and put them back on the hanger since they weren't particularly dirty. I went back into the room and Ivy was painting her toenails upside down on the bed talking to someone with the phone resting on her shoulder. I opened my closet and put the pants back in their place with the other colored pants. I closed the door and sat down on the edge of my bed. I tucked my pants back into the boots, and combed my hair. I put some clear lip balm on. The clock said it was eight thirteen. I picked up Ivy's purple moccasins and pointed at them for her to put them on.

She said bye to whoever she was talking to and put her phone back in her pocket. Her toenails were dry now and she put the moccasins on again without any socks, because they had fuzz inside of them and she said that kept them warm. I shut the blinds so no one could see in, and I got my shoulder bag. It had all of my notebooks in there, and my handgun. I know it's against the law for a twelve year old to carry a gun around, and I don't have my concealed to carry, but it's saved me a lot of times. We grew up like that, so I'm not afraid to.

I know I was supposed to dress up, but I'm perfectly content with the way that I looked like right now. I put on my chocker that my grandmother gave to me before she died. It had the family crest on it, which was a red moon, which occurs on a lunar eclipse. Our family story is that our first ancestor was born on a lunar eclipse. It's been passed down in our family for longer than any of us can remember.

I turned the light off and shut the doors. Ivy got her coat on and we headed out the door. I locked it behind me and we headed down stairs. We passed Oliver, our neighbor, and waved. We went down the large hall and saw the maid still dusting things she's already dusted before.

Ivy handed me some earrings of hers to wear. I had forgotten to put any on so those were just her back-ups. At least they were silver, and would match anything. Suddenly I felt the sharp pain in my shoulder again and I winced. I didn't want to show Ivy that I was in pain, because she would want for me to go back and rest. I couldn't miss another meeting, I just couldn't. No matter how bad my shoulder hurt. _But what if the wound opens again and you're going around with blood on your clothes? _I worried myself. _Or you bleed to death, and drop down dead in front of everyone. _

Katrina shook her head and smiled at the child she saw walking by. Her mother always told her to be kind to young children, because you always remember those who are kind to you when you're young. And it was true. Katrina remembered the kind faces the most, and she wanted to be a part of the happiness in others. Just like her mother wanted her to.

We pulled open the double cherry doors down in the lobby and scurried down the stairs again. It always gave you and eerie feeling when you went down the long staircase; especially at night. How she hated going up and down the stairs, but what other choice did she have? It scared her to be around _them_ even if she wasn't on the bottom floor yet. Katrina knew it was stupid to worry like that, but how could she not worry? It was only in the human nature to worry about such things happening.

Another pain shot through her shoulder when she moved it. _I'll make it._ She thought. _It's only one night._ But she still had the ominous feeling, and she knew she couldn't ignore it. I'll have to get help from someone there, but after I have enough time to see my friends.

We made our way down to the bottom and down the hall way. At least the hall way had real lights and not fire. The old lights flickered on and off, not at all as graceful as the spotless, sparkling crystal chandeliers in the lobby high above. This place has never seen a clean day in its life. But it had seen a flood. There were water marks almost up to the ceiling, and mind you this was a particularly high hallway if I do say so myself.

A boy came out of one of the closed wooden doors. That one was coming from the Falling Heart mansion. Not many people came from there, but I nodded my head anyway. He must not have seen me, because he let out a sneeze from coming into the moldy air. I was used to it though. He started walking ahead of us, and opened the next door on the left side. That led to the Fireflight mansion. Now, that's a place that not many people go at all. My mother said everyone who went in there was no good, and to never ever speak to them.

I hurried on past the door, even though he had already gone in. Ivy shot me a glance, and I knew what she meant by it. _Remember his face._ It made me feel terrible to turn against people, but it was for safety. That's what they always taught us to do.

I shot her a glance back and stuck my hand in my bag. I un-zipped one of the pockets and took out some teeth-whitening cinnamon gum. I un-wrapped it and put it in my mouth. Unfortunately, that was the last piece of gum, so I didn't have any to offer Ivy.

We walked on a little further until we got to Momma's on the right side of the hall. Momma's was where everybody went if they were hungry, or injured, or if they just needed someone to love them. And Momma wasn't afraid to take anyone in; she just went on and loved them anyway, no matter how bad they were. This was also where the meeting was held. I tucked my hair behind my ear and opened the door. As soon as I went in I heard heavy accents cheering and singing. I walked down the hallway and turned a left to the bar. Duncan was talking to some blond supermodel looking girl, while holding a beer mug filled with the gold liquid. At first I told him it was terrible that he was drinking when he was just fourteen, but he told me that trying to make a German to stop drinking was like trying to make the sun not shine, and it was true. Duncan was never going to stop drinking, but he never got drunk.

The bar tender waved at me, and I smiled back at him, he knew we weren't going to stay, but I do play some pool here sometimes. I usually beat them at it, but it's all for fun. We were almost the only girls who ever come in here, but why should we not? It isn't illegal here to be going through a bar when you're under age, well under age according to their standards that is.

I put my elbow on Duncan's shoulder and he looked up at me. The supermodel blond girl looked over at me like I was the ugliest thing she had ever seen in her life.

"Who is she?" she said scrunching up her nose, making her seem like the ugly one in this picture.

I scoffed at her and said. "I am who I am. And if you got a problem with that then get over it."

She just snorted and took Duncan's other arm. As if I cared. Duncan took his arm away from her- got up- and punched her so hard she fell out of her chair. "You're not my woman." He got his beer mug off of the table and we went on out into the next hallway.

"Well," Ivy said teasingly, "I sure wouldn't want to be her."

Duncan guzzled a third of his beer down and wiped his mouth on his army green coat sleeve. "She no good anyway- wouldn't leave me alone- and when she looked at Katrina like that, I just let her have it."

Well, he was always like that. Most of the time it turns people away from him, but I don't mind it at all. People are just so stubborn now-days. You never get a good fight around here anymore. Everyone's a coward.

I followed them past the concrete stairway and tried not the two people latched on to each other's faces; they were so loud I wanted to vomit. Katrina rushed past them as quickly as she could. She absolutely hated it when people kissed! It was the most disturbing, disgusting thing ever!

Katrina looked at Ivy's back, and she had all different colored neon feathers on her back from her pillows. She put her hand over her mouth and laughed, then brushed them off.

Her pocket vibrated. Someone had sent her a text. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and unlocked the screen. She tapped on the phone and opened her messages. Nathan had sent her a text; he was Duncan's older brother. It said, "Duncan broke blond girl's nose. She not very pretty girl now." You have to remember, he's still German. And by that I mean he's not going to have the best grammar!

I nudged Duncan's shoulder and showed him my phone. He just smiled and said, "It served her right. She should've not got on my bad side." He grumbled satisfied with himself.

True that. No one want's to get on his bad side. Unless if you want to get fatally injured, or you want to die. And trust me, he has a really, _really_ bad side. If you don't believe me, then it would still be bad not to test your luck.

I send Nathan a text back saying, "Is she dead yet?" and waited for him to reply.

"No. But don't count on it." Nathan sent back. I locked my phone and put it back in my new pants pocket.

Duncan turned to the left, and went down another cream colored hallway. This was a motel sort of thing, after all, so they did have to make it look decent for the guests. There were cracks on the ceiling though, but what building this old wouldn't have a few cracks here and there.

We reached a stair way, and we went even deeper underground. It was dark, and cold, but there was light at the bottom of the stairs. I heard Ivy put her hands on the wall; she must have slipped. These floors down here were a bit damp. Katrina blinked as she went into the room. There was a long table that stretched all the way across the room. This room looked even more spotless than the lobby at the Thornhollow mansion. It looked like a room for kings and queens. There were beautiful gold rimmed lights hanging over the table, and we walked along until we took our seats at our spot of representation. I put my bag on the ground beside me and sat up tall. After all I was the one representing Thornhollow this evening, and I didn't want to make us look bad, even though we were suffering more than the others.

Red was sitting across from me smoking a cigarette. He was like a second father to me. He was the one who taught me how to hunt, fish, and survive in this cold war we're fighting… He had tangled sandy blond hair and scars on his face, burns on his hands, but that didn't express the person inside at all. He was one of the kindest people I've ever met, and oh how he supported tough-love.

I heard someone slam there hand on the table, and that meant for everyone to get silent and that the meeting was going to begin. Luke Grey stood up, he was about fifteen, and he represented the Ice. His face was pale like he had just seen a ghost. He waited a few minutes after we had all settled and he glanced at all of our faces. Then he began, "We have suffered a great loss." He hesitated a long while like he forgot what to say. "We lost everyone from category ten, nine, eight, seven, five, four, and one. There was a flaw in our plan. We got trapped when we tried to take over the Wal-Mart. The Normal's were waiting for us, they knew we were hungry, so they trapped them and killed them all. We barely have anyone left. I would name all of them, but I'm afraid it would be morning by the time I got done." He glanced around at us one more time and sat down. I knew a bunch of those people. I felt like crying, but this wasn't a time for it. One of my friends, Lionel, who was a category four, must have been killed, along with others that I would have given the world for.

Nova, the representative for the Tunnels got up. "I absolutely hate to hear that." He said with tears in his eyes. "My little sister was a category nine" his voice was cracking, but he kept on talking. "She was hating her life, I'm glad she can now rest in peace." He sniffed and looked down at the papers on the desk. "The tunnels are growing larger each day, and we expect to have a new facility developed by January the seventh. We may use this facility to combine a part of all our groups, but you do not have to apply to this if you do not wish to." He wished us all the best of luck, and sat down, looking grim.

Jay, the representative for the Twilight stood up. He was twelve years old like I was; he had jet black hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes. He smacked his hand on the table to speak, and we looked at him. He had both of his hands on the table, and his head hanging down. When he looked up he was grinning from ear to ear. "I know none of you are going to believe this. And when they told me, I didn't believe it either." He chuckled. "But the Order of Pennsylvania is declaring war on us."

Everyone was silent for a long time. Then I spoke up. "So, you're saying that Pennsylvania wants to take over West Virginia? There isn't a law force than can stop them. You know very well we can't save West Virginia. We have to stay underground, always. Even if we wanted to help, how could we without being executed. Remember who we are, werewolves, and people don't like us.

"There are some exceptions we can make." Nova said. "It will be crazy, but what other choice do we have?"

"I agree." Luke muttered from his seat. "When will they attack us?"

Jay looked concerned. "Only God knows when. So, I talked with our leader, and he said that it was important we clear out all of the schools near the border first, and then make our blockades, above and below ground. Since the Twilight Mansion is nearest to the border, that where we'll send them."

Red threw his cigarette butt over his shoulder. "Sounds like a good plan kid. But there's still one problem we have to fix." Everyone looked at the man like he was crazy. "We ain't gonna be saving many a people in were starved to death. What we going to do about that?"

"Hunt." Luke said sternly. "That is, if that's not too hard for you."

"Well, Mr. Smart-a"

But I stood up and slammed my fist on the table. "Arguing won't fill our starving stomachs. If you feel like you need to do something than get out of here and do it!"

Duncan started clapping his hands and yelled. "That's my girl!" I stomped on him foot, and he shut up and glared at me.

Luke got up shoved his chair in, and stormed off with the rest of his reps. One by one, the rest of us all got up to, and I went back up the stairs with Ivy and Duncan before I could talk to the other group people. As much as we needed to make plans tonight of our attack, this meeting was going to the dogs fast, and literally. It was as good as over before it even began.


End file.
